


Hope is Rekindled

by owltype



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 11:17:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3118208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owltype/pseuds/owltype
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despair is not an emotion Draco Malfoy is intimate with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope is Rekindled

**Author's Note:**

> It has been almost nine years since I've written anything for the Harry Potter fandom. But ever since I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 in theaters, this scene has intrigued me. I finally decided I would get it written. I hope you all like it.

Despair is not an emotion Draco Malfoy is intimate with. He has no reason to be. His whole life, everything had been provided for him; and he had grown up knowing he was, if not loved, at least _wanted_.

Potter knew despair. From an early age--indeed, before Potter could even speak, he had known despair.

Inanely, Draco wants to ask Potter, “How did you do it? How did you not collapse under its weight?”

But as Draco stares at the body held tenderly in the giant’s arms, he knew: despair had caught up to Potter. And it had broken him.

It had broken them all.

Draco looks instead to the madman gloating in the middle of the courtyard; and then to his parents. Even from his vantage point, he can see the anxiety in his parents’ eyes. His mother’s gaze bore into his, like a beacon, calling out to him: _Draco. Please. My son._

His father says: “Draco. Come.”

There is a glimmer of hope in his father’s eyes. Draco wants to scoff, wants to yell, wants to tell his father that he’s stupid and mad for believing things could ever be okay again. He wants to tell his father, no, he will not go with him to be ridiculed and tormented.

Instead his feet shuffle forward. With hunched shoulders and despondent eyes, he approaches the Lord Voldemort and bears his touch stoically, before rejoining his parents.

His mother clutches at his arm and moves in front of him to shield his body with hers. She is tense, as if preparing for a fight. Or to flee. She whispers something in his ear but Draco can barely hear it over the raucous cheers and laughter of the Death Eaters.

Draco watches impassively as Longbottom steps forward to confront Lord Voldemort. A brave man, but foolish.

 _Stand down_ , Draco thinks. _He has won_.

He tries not to listen, but Neville’s words cut through the silence and echo in Draco’s mind.

 _Yeah. We lost Harry tonight. But he’s still with us, in here_. _So’s Fred. Remus. Tonks. They didn’t die in vain. But you will! Because you’re wrong. Harry’s heart did beat for us. For all of us! This is not over._

Movement in Draco’s peripheral vision catches his eye and he turns to stare as Potter suddenly falls from the giant’s arms, very much alive. He dives toward Lord Voldemort as everybody springs into action, curses again flying through the air.

Draco continues to stare in shock as Potter runs toward the castle, Voldemort on his trail. He moves to follow, but his mother’s grip on his arm is like iron.

She begins to pull him in the opposite direction. His father hesitates for a moment before following.

Draco cranes his head over his shoulder to watch the carnage behind him. He catches sight of Potter running through a dilapidated tower and feels a surge of pride and something else, something akin to hope, burn through his chest.

Despair had not won this time. They were saved.


End file.
